Two new pestalotioid fungi from tropical fruits in Iran

In a survey of tropical plant diseases in southern and southeastern Iran, samples of diseased Mangiferaindica and Psidiumguava leaves with necrotic symptoms were collected between 2021 and 2022. Six representative isolates of Neopestalotiopsis and Robillarda (three isolates for each) were studied using morphological characteristics as well as multi-locus phylogenetic analysis based on (i) the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the nuclear rDNA, (ii) part of the translation elongation factor 1-alpha (tef1), and (iii) the β-tubulin (tub2). After morphological investigation, our phylogenetic analysis revealed that the Neopestalotiopsis and Robillarda isolates under study differed from all previously described species within these genera. Based on our polyphasic approach, two new species, including Neopestalotiopsisguava sp. nov. from necrotic Mangiferaindica and Robillardakhodaparastii sp. nov. from Psidiumguava are described and illustrated from Iran.